Mom and I were comfortably cozied up on the couch, enjoying our DVR’d American Idol when he came it to ask if I would come dig out the rest of the mud around the pipe. It wasn’t exactly what I had in mind for the rest of my evening, but I got up anyway, changed into some “work clothes” and headed out to the front yard. Dad and I were kind of joking about it, because I was always the “daddy pleaser” kid growing up. When I was little, and we were going on a fishing trip, dad would always try to get my brother Derek to come outside and gather worms in a can with him. You know, be a little man and get his hands dirty. Derek was always grossed out by it, though. I’d always pass him up out the door yelling, “I’ll do it Daddy, I’ll do it!” Ya, I was that kid. Anyway, back to my pipe repair story.
Soon enough my hands were covered in soggy mud after trimming some old roots that were in the way of cleaning out all around the pipe. It had to be completely cleaned out all around the pipe so we could identify the source of the problem. Dad was like, “okay, I’m going to turn on the water, and you can probably see down in there better than me, so see if you can find the spot where it’s leaking.” So, my face is down in the hole, and he turns on the water. It literally gushes out of the side of the pipe all over the place! Source of problem: EASILY identified!
Dad’s finishing up the repairs today and we’ll be good as new soon enough. Oh ya; mom and dad decided to pay for part of my dress for an upcoming wedding since I helped! Sweet diggity!
So, this whole ordeal kind of got me thinking about me and God and when we have to do Kingdom “house repairs,” which is why I’m even sharing this story with you.
Within the church, there are often times we need to fix leaky pipes. There are definitely times when we don’t really feel like it, and we go way to long before trying to find and fix the problem areas. Sometimes they are buried so deep we don’t even really know how long it’s even been a problem! But, it always surfaces. Like Papa Ricketts, our Heavenly Father is always the expert of the house in repairs, but he often uses His kids to get in and do the dirty work. The Bible often refers to the Spirit of God as living water, and it is SO not good if the living water of the Lord is not moving through the church like it’s supposed to!! It can damage the “pipes,” the link we have with the Lord.
And, how often do we recognize there’s a problem, but we don’t bother doing anything about it because we think we can fend for ourselves just fine? We’ve got a schedule to keep, and it’s just not worth our time to make time to do the dirty work. Well, it may seem like we can function just fine with a leaky pipe, but the longer you go without fixing it, the more damage it does in the long run. Good thing our Daddy can fix even the messiest problems!!!
How eager are we to be a part of God’s work, the family business? Are we doing things around the house that are pointless, or are we listening to what our Father say’s is wrong and joining in with what HE is doing? We can gain a lot of wisdom if we work alongside God with what He is doing. If we fix the things that HE says need fixing, then we can enjoy the pleasures of the house of the Lord when it’s all running the way it should, and it will keep us from being busy doing stuff that’s without purpose.
Let’s do some routine maintenance; let’s make sure that our pipe-line, the Spirit of the Lord, is flowing in a healthy way into the house of God! And, let’s not be afraid to draw upon our neighbors, other Christians or church families where the “water is flowing,” if we need to make some repairs to our own pipes! That’s what the body of Christ was designed to do! If one part is hurting, the whole body is hurting.
Oh ya, and He rewards His kids for being a part of the Kingdom’s work! Ya, my parents rock like that. They’re always giving me good analogies for how our Heavenly Father works. I’m super blessed to have good parents in my life!
Shout out to Papa and Mama Ricketts: They just celebrated their 32nd anniversary last week!
